But, if you have a furry family member like I do, you won't be watching them in person, as you'll be busy making sure your dog isn't panicking.

Unfortunately, every year I hear of another dog who's run away in terror over the sound of fireworks.

Below are some excellent suggestions for you and your canine best friend, to make things a little easier this year. These come from Cory Ferguson, with the Texas-based rescue group WAG (Wimberley Adoption Group and Rescue):

This will probably be a very loud and raucous celebration of the 4th this year (probably starting days early and running through the 5th).

This is absolutely prime time for dogs to panic, get out, and try to escape the loud fireworks.

Please take the following measures:

1) Ensure that your dog has a good fitting (check its adjustment if they already do) collar and LEGIBLE dog tags (aluminum tags wear a lot on active dogs and may not be readable or may be ready to fall off after a year or two), and that these tags at minimum have your name and a good contact phone number for you (an address can help too).

2) All dogs SHOULD be microchipped (and your chip number must be registered for it to work), however this is a last line of defense, and you will get your dog back fastest if there are easily readable tags on its collar. If you need to register a chip which hasn't been registered you can do so at: FreePetChipRegistry.com. I can assure you they a VERY good at notifying you if your pet is recovered!

3) If you know your dog or other pet has issues with fireworks (thunderstorms, etc), you may wish to contact your veterinarian for assistance with temporary options to help calm your pet so it's less likely to panic.

4) PLEASE check all of your fencing and your gates and fix any problems you might identify so reduce the escape risk; but IMHO your pets should be brought indoors during the hours fireworks are going off and NOT left alone. Your calm presence is probably the thing that will do the most to help calm your dog.

5) Be careful about leaving windows or doors open & relying on just screens to contain a panicked dog!

6) Prior to the 4th, if you have a dog which may panic & get out and you have ensured you can be contacted if it does (tags/chips) then you may want to turn off unknown number filtering for a day or two on your phone, so if your dog is lost you can be contacted and not have calls or texts routed into your unknown/spam folder.

7) If you have a quiet interior room (not near an outside wall or with windows, like the kind you would use for tornadoes, you can help create a "quiet(er) zone" for your tense dog. It can help if you find a way to hang blankets or other dampening materials on the walls or especially the door, these will help muffle sound. However, I will reiterate that being with you, while you remain PERFECTLY CALM (so you can provide direct reassurance and comfort), can do the most to help.

I will add one more that really helped a lot last year for my dog, and this advice comes from dog psychology expert Cesar Millan: The week before, and especially the days leading up to a fireworks display, make sure you exercise your dog much more than usual; double and triple the amount of exercise! Especially ON the day of the display. A tired dog is much less likely to panic for very long, and much more likely to come into a calm state of mind. (Image: Breaking Christian News) Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

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